Ascension
by That Yaoi Boy
Summary: Set a few years after Endless Waltz, originally written as a missing scene leading up to the Frozen Teardrop novels. Some spoilers included. After a vague message from Heero regarding an upcoming mission, Wufei just can't shake the feeling that something is off. Well, he never was one for waiting around...


I wrote this a few years ago for a Livejournal fic exchange and recently came across it again while cleaning out my old files. Figured I might as well post it here for posterity.

* * *

"Damn it Une, don't play games with me! I know you're aware of what's going on!" Chang Wufei shouted furiously, storming into the Commander's office and slamming the door behind him.

To her credit, Une remained perfectly calm; she spun around in her chair and gestured for the fiery young man to sit down. Frowning a bit when he remained standing, she bore his angry glare in silence for a moment before letting out a short sigh.

"Is there something I can help you with agent?" she offered tersely, knowing that the next few minutes had the potential to be decidedly unpleasant.

Wufei looked as if he wanted nothing more than to attack her; fortunately he restrained himself. "You know damn well what this is about. Where is he?!"

Her eyes narrowed, clearly annoyed by his lack of respect, but she kept her head. "Where is who? I'm afraid you'll have to be a little more specific."

"Yuy." he snapped back.

"Ah. So you've found out have you? May I ask where this little breach in security came from?" she inquired, ever the businesswoman.

"Yuy." came the unsure reply.

That one definitely caught her off guard; she leaned forward a bit and for the briefest of moments her eyes widened in surprise. 'Agent Yuy knows secrecy is essential to the success of this mission. Why would he tell anyone else about it?' she wondered.

Regaining her composure, she sat back in her chair and folded her arms across her chest, "Just what has agent Yuy told you, agent Chang?"

Having calmed down a bit upon seeing her reaction, Wufei answered somewhat civilly, "All I got was a message out of the blue saying goodbye and that maybe I'd see him again someday. He also said it would be pointless to try and find him."

Une breathed a sigh of relief; all was not lost. She could work around this unexpected development. Determined, she locked her gaze with the teen and steeled herself for what was to come.

"He's on a very important mission," she began, holding up a hand to stop any attempted interruption, "...the details of which are classified to all non-involved personnel. This includes you Chang. I'm sure I don't have to remind you of proper procedure for-"

"To hell with your proper procedures!" Une suddenly found herself staring down the cold barrel of Wufei's gun.

"Really agent Chang? Must you resort to this?"

"Tell me where he is. Now."

She chuckled, unperturbed by the threat, though they both knew he was perfectly capable of going through with it. "That information is worth more than both our lives. If you're going to shoot me then by all means get on with it. Otherwise, you're wasting my time."

The tension was palpable as they stood each other off, him glaring daggers and she smiling defiantly back at her would-be assassin.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to Wufei, he dropped the gun in frustration and took off running, slamming the door again so violently it almost came off its hinges.

If Une wouldn't tell him anything, he'd just have to find some other way.

* * *

"I thought I might find you here." came a familiar voice from the doorway.

"What do you want Sally? I'm busy right now so whatever it is it will have to wait until…" Wufei growled, not even bothering to spare her a glance.

"You won't find anything in the database about Heero's mission, even with Une's level of access." she interrupted, stepping into the room and taking a seat next to him.

"How did you..?"

She smiled reassuringly, amused that after all they had been through over the last few years he was in many ways still the same confused teenager he had been when they first met. "Oh Wufei, you've always been terrible at hiding things, especially when it comes to your emotions. It doesn't take a genius to see how worried you are and given what the ESUN is planning, it wasn't really hard to figure out."

"You know what's going on?"

"Yes." she nodded and produced a small data drive, handing it over to the eager pilot. "I'm not normally one to question Heero," she continued in a softer tone, "Lord knows that boy has saved us all many times over, but this time, this time I really believe he's wrong. Go to him Wufei, before its too late, because if anyone can convince him of what a mistake he's making its you."

"Sally, what-"

"You can look it over on the way to the spaceport. His shuttle leaves in less than an hour."  
Wufei was out the door before she could continue.

"Bay three!" she shouted after him and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him nod before disappearing down a stairwell. "Good luck..."

* * *

'Damn it, where the hell is he!? I've got to find him before they leave!' Wufei thought frantically as he ran down the hallway towards the third shuttle bay. He turned a corner and then...

There Heero was, not ten feet away, looking down at the launch crew preparing the shuttle. From the sound of things it seemed like they were almost done; if he was going to do this it would have to be quick. Wufei approached silently, hoping for once to get the drop on the so called "perfect" soldier. Mission accepted, right?

"You made it. I was starting to think you wouldn't get here in time." his partner muttered as soon as Wufei got close.

Mission failed. Somehow, he wasn't surprised.

"Yeah, well, Une is very good at stalling people when she wants to be." he replied acidly, walking up next to the other boy.

"I'm surprised she actually told you where to find me."

Wufei leaned forward against the railing and stared at the shuttle, not yet ready to face those startling blue eyes. "She didn't."

"Oh?" Heero asked, a hint of surprise slipping into his voice.

"Sally."

"Po always was ruled by her emotions." the Japanese teen smirked. "Never thought I'd be grateful to her for it though."

Enough was enough; the clock was ticking and he had to say it.

"Heero I-" Wufei began, turning to face the brunet, but was stopped by a wave of the others hand.

"You can't change my mind, Wufei. I assume you know what this mission entails and why I was chosen."

Wufei's composure lasted about three seconds. "But you don't even know if this is necessary! How can you just give everything up on a whim!?"

"Not a whim." Heero whispered, though in his anger Wufei failed to hear it.

"Everything we've fought for, all the way back to Operation Meteor until the present, you're going to just throw all of that away because they tell you to? Heero, even for you, this is crazy!"  
Now Heero's temper was beginning to flare. "That's exactly why I have to do this! Don't you see Wufei? Everything we've ever fought for is at stake. You know as well as I how fragile this peace really is! All it will take is one serious incident, one failed mission and everything could crumble! How many people have died so that the rest of humanity would get the chance see an era like this?!" he argued, letting his anger take over.

"Heero that's not - you can't just shoulder all of that by yourself!" Wufei shot back and turned away from his partner.

Heero's expression softened, unsure how to proceed.

"Wufei I..."

Perhaps this had been a mistake. He thought seeing Wufei one last time would somehow make things easier, that it would give them both closure; so far it had done anything but.

"I'm not going to let it all be in vain, Wufei. By doing this, I can at least try and prevent that." He took a step forward and wrapped his arms around the smaller boy, pulling him close.

Wufei remained silent; he only lowered his head and tried to suppress his sadness. Damned if he was going to cry in front of Heero.

"Wufei, listen to me. Before we got together, I'd never been able to let anyone in. I always made sure no one ever got too close. You changed that. Being with you these past two years has made me more than just a soldier; its made me human. I've gotten to experience so much, so many wonderful things and feelings that I would have missed if not for you. It hasn't always been perfect, but it really has been the best time of my life and I can never thank you enough for that."

Heero squeezed Wufei tightly to his chest, praying that his words were getting through. "I'm...still not all that great with emotions and stuff like that, but in my heart I know this is right. It hurts worse than any wound I've ever received, but I have to see this mission through. I have to protect you and everything we've built."

Silence.

"Please, Wufei, just tell me you understand."

Still nothing.

"Wufei?"

"Get on the shuttle." Wufei muttered.

"What?"

"I said get on the blasted shuttle!" he repeated, spinning around in his lover's arms. Heero was surprised to see tears rolling down the Chinese pilot's face.

"Wufei you-" he began, but was quickly silenced by a crushing kiss. They made it count, battling for dominance just as they always had throughout their relationship, not stopping until they absolutely had to for air.

"I love you, Heero Yuy. If you ever tell anyone I said that, I'll have to kill you myself." Wufei whispered as they broke apart.

Heero smiled, a rare true smile, glad that they could at least part on good terms. "I love you too. And I'm sorry."

'So very sorry...'

* * *

Wufei watched silently from his motorcycle as the shuttle climbed into the atmosphere until it was only a tiny speck of light in the night sky. He was reminded briefly of an old mural he had once seen as a child on L5, depicting a dragon ascending into the heavens, promising to protect those down below.

He wondered if the world would ever know of the sacrifice Heero was making to safeguard them all. He wondered if they deserved it. In the end, he decided he would just have to trust Heero and have faith that humanity was worth it.

Who knows? Maybe they'd see each other again someday...

END

* * *

In case you aren't familiar with the novel plot, Heero is cryogenically frozen and stored on Mars so that he can be called upon in the future during emergencies without losing his combat prowess to aging. Wufei eventually ends up as his guardian at the base where he is stored, under the name Master Chang. He is also still single, so maybe he's guarding his lover eh? You never know hehe. Hope you liked it!


End file.
